Masterpiece
by Ir1s
Summary: Naruto knew that the house was too quiet and as a father, it was his duty to investigate. Short drabble.


AN: Slightly AU I guess. Takes place about twenty years after current canon, so Naruto is about thirty-six or so.

* * *

It was after a half-hour of complete, blissful silence that Naruto began to worry. No good ever came from quiet six-year olds, and considering he was babysitting only one child this evening, Ruriko would not be amused if she came home to find their youngest daughter, Kita, had destroyed the house.

_I should go check on her or Ruri-chan will give me The Look of Doom. And then she might not make that beef ramen she promised for dinner._

He frowned at the thought, set aside the scroll he had been scanning and leaned back in his chair until the soft pop of bones realigning reached his ears. Exiting the upstairs office - a perk of living in the Hokage mansion - Naruto reached the stairs and stopped to listen. Giggling could be heard coming from the living room below.

_Well, at least she's still in the house._ Naruto thought with mild relief.

The ANBU guards were suppose to stop and/or alert him if Kita attempted to leave the house unaccompanied, but that meant that they had to actually _see_ her leaving. The fiery red-head had already snuck past the guards twice in the past month to go on mini-excursions around the village. She had never gone very far, preferring to explore the near by training grounds for kunai and other weapons that she was specifically forbidden to have; but that didn't mean it didn't give Naruto a heart attack every time she went missing.

Normally Kakashi would watch Kita during the day and evening, since he was retired and had nothing better to do all day. He actually seemed to enjoy watching her too. The two would usually go outside and Kita would play with Kakashi's ninken while he read in a near by tree. But tonight Kakashi had been invited to dinner with a group from his generation - which almost never happened and Ruriko had insisted that he go. While it was nice that Kakashi was getting out of the house and socializing, it left Naruto alone with the child whom Sakura had dubbed "a miniature you with red hair".

He descended the stairs silently, hoping to catch Kita by surprise. Moving to the doorway of the living room, he found Kita standing with her back to him and a cup of what appeared to be lime-green paint in one hand. On the wall in front of her Kita had clearly been busy painting a picture, using the wall as her canvas. Naruto couldn't see very much of the masterpiece from his angle, but it looked vaguely like a map of the village; with a chocolate-brown wall surrounding the whole thing, dripping paint that ran and mixed with the greens, reds, blues, and pinks further down the wall.

He crept towards his daughter to get a closer look.

"Kita-chan, when I said you could paint, I meant on paper." Naruto said once he reached Kita.

The girl whipped around at the sound of her father's voice. Her eyes darted up to meet his, and Naruto would swear that he could see the gears turning her head trying to make up an excuse. Now that he was closer, Naruto could see the full mural. Kita had painted a crude map of the village but now that he was closer he could make out figures painted in the village as well.

"Do you like it?"

Naruto looked back down at his daughter, who was smiling up at him. She was covered in paint and was attempting to give him the patented Uzumaki Eyes.

_Curse her for inheriting my eyes_, Naruto thought, resisting the urge to rub at the bridge of his nose, _how did Iruka-sensi put up with me?_

"It's very nice, Kita-chan." Naruto bent down to scoop up the six-year old in an attempt to keep the mess semi-contained. She was going to need a bath anyways. "But do you know where it would look even better?"

Kita gave him a suspicious look.

"In my room?" She guessed, hoping to provide the right answer and wiggle out of the punishment that she was sure her father was plotting right now. She could _not_ spend another two hours in her room alone. Forcing a child to stay in their room with _no one_ else to talk to or play with was torture and should be illegal.

"I meant on_ paper_." Naruto laughed, "You should be thankful your mother isn't here."

Kita shifted in his arms and reconsidered her strategy.

"Well, I wouldn't have done this if you had been watching me like you were suppose to. You're suppose to be the responsible one."

"Oh really? You -"

Naruto stopped at the sound of laughter coming from outside and two heads snapped towards to door.

_Uh-oh, Ruri-chan is home. _

Naruto's eyes darted between his painted-covered daughter and the wall that was equally covered in paint.

_Crap._

Kita had a smug look on her face as she turned back to him.

"You're in trouble."

Naruto didn't have time to respond because at the moment the lock on the door clicked ominously. Ruriko paused half-way through the door when she caught sight of Naruto with Kita in his arms standing in front of the adjacent wall. An even-tempered person, Ruriko rarely yelled, but all of her children agreed that there were times when they wished she would instead of giving them The Look of Doom.

Kita and Naruto cringed in unison and Ruriko put down her pack and stood with one eyebrow raised, starring both of them down. The silence that followed made Naruto twitch.

_Oh, man! Ruri-chan is going to kill me!_

"I see you've been practicing your art skills, Kita-chan." Ruriko said, releasing the two from her icy stare after a few moments to walk over to the painting. She squatted down to get a closer look and Naruto continued to hold his breath.

"Is that one Nara-san? I've rarely seen him smile like that." Ruriko asked, breaking into a bright smile. Kita relaxed a bit in his arms and Naruto noisily released the breath he had been holding.

"He should smile more often. He's too grumpy most of the time," Kita answered. Ruriko hummed in response.

"You're right, he is. And I see you drew Kakashi-san with all of his dogs." Ruriko pointed to a figure with silver paint globed onto the top of it's head that was surrounded by grey, black, and brown lumps.

"Well du-hu. Of course I did." Kita said as she wiggled out of Naruto's arms and moved to stand next to her mother. Ruriko reached over to put a hand on her head.

"It's very nice, but now you need a bath-" "Aw, man!" "-which your father is going to help you with." Ruriko stopped to shoot Naruto a look, "and then I'll show you how to clean this up properly."

"After dinner?"

"Yes, after dinner. Now go, before I make your father cook dinner."

Kita's eyes widened before she turned slightly green. "Nnnoooo! Please mom, anything but that."

Ruriko smiled and padded toward the kitchen.

"Then I guess you should hop to it."

Kita bolted up the stairs in a blur of red. Naruto lingered in the living room to stare at the mural for a minute.

"Hey," Ruriko called from the kitchen, "lord knows that child won't wash herself. Don't make me make you cook."

Naruto smiled but did move.

"Wouldn't that be equally torturous for you?"

Ruriko appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. She gave him a mischievous grin, tilting her head forward and letting her dark blue hair fall in front of her face a little.

"I never said that I would be eating it." Naruto adopted a horrified expression. Ruriko laughed, disappeared into the kitchen again and he moved toward the stairs.

"You wouldn't be so cruel, would you Ruri-chan?" Naruto whined as he jogged up the stairs.

"We'll see," was the response that graced him from the kitchen.


End file.
